There are over 2 billion people globally that engage with social video, on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, and other sites and applications. Oftentimes, users want to share specific portions of a video that already exists, but there is no easy way to do it. Today, they must download the video, edit it using desktop video editing software like Adobe Premiere or Apple Final Cut, save, and then re-upload it. The challenge is that this is very time consuming (minimum 30 minutes), and in many instances, risks violating the intellectual property rights of creators who did not give permission to use or publish the videos. Further, video editing software can be difficult to use for all but the most technically savvy producers.
For instance, an example of video that is widely watched and would greatly benefit from simple, non-infringing editing and playback is sports video. There are 4-5 billion sports fans around the world, possibly even more. Soccer alone has documented 4 billion fans. Many of these fans don't have the time to watch full games; instead, they want to see highlights. They also want to personalize and share these highlights. Sports clips are quite reliably subject to copyright claims by vigilant owners, so a system and method of sharing clips without violating copyright is needed.